In the production of elongated magnetic articles, such as axially leaded diodes, it is economically desirable to link various operations together in a continuous production line. The output from a sorting operation, for example, may be linked by a conveying device to a testing operation, the output therefrom may be linked to an operation for painting codes on the articles, and the output therefrom may be linked to a taping operation to prepare the articles for shipment. When all such operations work in harmony, a continuous line may be highly efficient, producing many fine articles during each hour of operation. Yet it is found that such harmony is not always maintained and the problem presented is to optionally divert the output of articles from a functioning operation to a means for storage when a link is to be broken.
The diversion problem is affected by the type of carrier advancing the articles, by the article seating, and by the normal method of removal at the output of an operation. For example, diodes may be carried by wheels, chains, air tubes, or by inclined magnetic bins and such diodes may be fixedly seated on a carrier, such as by magnets, or loosely seated in slots or notches. The diodes may be removed from a carrier by the attraction of external magnetic forces, by blows from an internal piston, or by stripping devices. Typically, the diodes are removed and received with a given orientation which also tends to bear upon the diversion problem.
In a typical operation, the articles are normally removed from a first location along a pathway of the articles by a suitable process and directed to a subsequent operation. To optionally redirect the articles, they are retained on the carrier until they reach a second location thereon where they are removed by another process suitable to a given receival means. The problem is to interrupt the normal removal process and to retain the articles on the carrier even though the articles may be loosely seated. It will be appreciated that when loosely seated articles are advanced such that the seats are tilted or inverted, retention becomes especially important.
After a diode coding operation, for example, the diodes are typically rolled on rails as they are advanced through a drying oven. Since the ovens are quite long, a chain conveyor carries the diodes therethrough while they are loosely disposed in pairs of opposing notched teeth. When the diodes are advanced beyond the oven they are typically removed and directed to a taping operation.
In a conventional process for removing articles from a chain conveyor, the articles are permitted to pass over a wheel and fall out of their loose seating or a notched transfer wheel picks them off the notched teeth. In a less conventional removal process, a belt having a magnetically attractive underside passes over the top of the chain conveyor and the articles are drawn upward from their seats and into contact with the belt. In such a removal process the articles are advantageously conveyed by the same belt to a subsequent operation with tolerable change in article orientation.
Removing articles from the top of a conveyor has the advantage that elevation is conserved in a production line so the force of gravity can be used to feed a subsequent operation. In feeding a taping operation after coding diodes, for example, an inclined magnetic bin is used wherein the diodes are suspended, virtually without contacting the articles. Such lack of contact is ideal for handling freshly painted diodes so a magnetic bin offers a significant advantage over a magnetic belt which contacts the articles drawn to it.
Consequently, it is desirable to develop a magnetic bin to remove articles from the top of a conveyor and further to use the same bin to feed a subsequent operation. Of course, when articles are optionally removed from a second location along a chain conveyor, the removal by the magnetic bin should be interrupted and the articles retained on the conveyor until they are advanced to the second location.